


Flight Of Fancy

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [40]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Episode: s01e11 The Torment of Tantalus, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 17:06:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17708264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: Without warning, Carter meets his eye from the across the room, before averting her gaze. The interaction only lasts a second, but he feels tendrils of warmth start a slow burn in his chest and he quickly goes back to studying the castle ruins.





	Flight Of Fancy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘Kite Flying Day’ (8 February). A little missing scene for season 1 ‘The Torment of Tantalus’.

“I don’t know what I expected,” Catherine says with a shake of her head, and Jack winces when he catches her sad expression because – despite the circumstances – her love for Ernest Littlefield hasn’t diminished. “I mean, I can’t believe he’s right here. Light years away, but still so close all this time – _alive_.”

However, Jack has never excelled at the whole comforting thing, so when Captain Carter sits down next to her, he decides to let her handle the situation while he hovers nearby.

“I think he’s probably having a little trouble dealing with it, too,” she offers quietly.

“I felt like a schoolgirl,” Catherine admits. “My heart was beating faster than when I came through the gate.”

When she starts to laugh, Jack he glances over and sees her nudge Sam’s arm. “You think you’re old and wise.”

“I – I don’t think the heart ever grows old.”

At Sam’s reply, Jack lets his gaze shift and notices the soft smile that curves her lips.

“I can't even fathom what he's been through,” the older woman sighs. “Such a long time.”

Without warning, Carter meets his eye from the across the room, before averting her gaze. The interaction only lasts a second, but he feels tendrils of warmth start a slow burn in his chest and he quickly goes back to studying the castle ruins.

“I don't even know that man.”

A heavy silence falls before Sam nudges her knee. “Why don't you go and talk to him?”

Jack chooses that moment to make his way towards them but he feels like an intruder as he watches Catherine envelope Sam in a tight hug. When she gets to her feet, she pats Jack on the arm before she turns and leaves to find her estranged fiancé. With a fond smile, he drops down onto the steps beside his teammate, his shoulder brushing against hers.

“Do you think they’ll make up?”

Sam turns and studies him for a moment before she answers. “Yeah, I do.”

“Didn’t peg you for such a hopeless romantic, Carter,” he grins, knocking her shoulder gently with his own.

“There’s a lot about me you don’t know, sir.”

Their gaze meets again as she smiles and Jack swears that something fundamental inside him shifts. He imagines it’s similar to the way tectonic plates slide against each other, right before the pressure starts to build beneath the surface and a natural disaster is imminent. He reads National Geographic.

A roll of thunder is heard in the distance and the moment is broken, and Jack is secretly glad because he doesn’t know what the hell just happened, but suddenly he’s left wondering if Samantha Carter is going to be his own kind of personal catastrophe. He swallows hard and decides it’s time to go and round up the rest of the group.

As it turns out, their plan to just simply gate back home with Ernest doesn’t work out when they discover the DHD is damaged, but Jack stamp downs on his initial panic because Carter’s the expert on the Stargate and if anyone can figure out a way to get them all home, it’s her. His faith in her abilities is unwavering – which truly terrifies him as he’s never been willing, or able, to fully put his life in somebody else’s hands before. But with Sam, he wouldn’t hesitate. He trusts her, completely.

Unwittingly, he searches her out in the main room of the castle but when he sees her, he notices the dust and debris falling from a spot on the ceiling just to her left. He gets a strange feeling in his gut and stands beside her as she works, his hand resting next to hers on the DHD.

“Uh, you wanna pick up the pace on this a little bit?”

He watches her connect the wires inside the device and turns to see the gate powering up, the chevrons glowing brightly. But no sooner does Catherine utter a relived “you did it”, are they plunged into darkness again when the gate shuts down. He’s just about to ask Carter what happened when he hears a creak above their heads and he looks up.

There’s barely enough time to grab her vest and pull her down the stairs.

He hears himself yell for Teal’c and Catherine to get back, right before he and Sam tumble down the stairs and the ceiling caves in. Recovering quickly, he slides over to the captain’s side, only vaguely aware of the others running towards them.

“Y’alright?” he asks quietly.

She nods and he lets the hand that was resting on her back, trail down her arm as he turns to inspect the damage. He freezes. It doesn’t look good and when he makes his way up the steps and finds a gaping hole in the floor where the DHD used to be, his stomach plummets.

“Ah, crap.”

* * *

Sometimes Jack hates his job – especially when he has to side with one teammate over another. He understands Daniel’s passion towards the fancy alien device, he really does, but his overriding concern now is getting everyone home safe as soon as possible. They are his responsibility and as he casts another glance at the ceiling, he knows the ruins are not going to withstand another hit from the storm.

But nothing happens when Teal’c shoots at the machine and he isn’t sure what else they can do, considering the C4 in his pocket would likely blow them all into the ocean. Suddenly, a rumble of thunder echoes loudly around them and flashes of lightning pierce through the gaps in the structure.

“I’m obviously no scientist, but, um… couldn’t we use that Ben Franklin thing?”

The words leave his lips before he can stop them and he frowns. But when he risks a look to his left, he finds his uncertainty quickly morphs into surprise when he sees _her_ face light up.

He tries not to think about what that look on her does – or means – for him as the tendrils he felt earlier are now being replaced by tiny little explosions going off in his chest. He can feel his heart stutter and he swallows hard.

Because, just like that, Samantha Carter looks like she wants to kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> So, initially I’d planned to go all Mary Poppins and have a cute scene with Sam, Jack and Cassie (set in season one) but it just felt too forced and… urgh. And then I randomly remembered the ‘Benjamin Franklin’ reference in ToT – and this was the result.


End file.
